Security Detail
by The Passionate Admiral
Summary: A terrorist attack on a Federation starship raises tension both on the station and among the vessel's crew. Could this be the only attack, or the first in a series of attacks? Finished
1. A Typical Day

Security Detail

Author: The Passionate Admiral

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Star Trek universe, nor any of the characters, but I do own the USS _Hanson _and its crew, along with a few other Federation starships in this story. So please, no referencing my ideas w/out my consent!

Plot: This takes place during the fourth season of DS9, say sometime between "Paradise Lost" and "Crossfire." The summary says it all. What could an unprovoked attack on a Federation starship incite? We shall see!

In the year 2372, the vast space along the Federation-Cardassian border was relatively calm and peaceful. The Federation survey vessel _Hanson_ was observing all events taking place along a part of the Border. The members of the crew were looking for anything that they should report in. But they had encountered nothing out of the ordinary. They continued to patrol the border, keeping their eyes open for anything suspicious.

On the bridge of the _Hanson_, Captain Weston Turner was in the Captain's chair, overlooking the latest dossier on their last survey. He was slightly disappointed when he found nothing out of the ordinary. He was hoping that he would have something worth reporting to give to Starfleet Command. He soon began wishing that something spontaneous would happen that day. Unfortunately, he would be getting his wish very soon.

Joining Captain Turner and his crew from Deep Space Nine were Lieutenant Commander Worf and Dr. Julian Bashir. The former had come along to assist the crew in the event of an encounter with the Klingons, and the latter had accompanied them for the same reason. The only real difference in their jobs was where each of them would be working. Dr. Bashir would, of course, be working from the sickbay. Commander Worf would be operating from a tactical station on the bridge.

Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax had also accompanied the warrior and the physician from the station. She had come along to take charge of a scientific operation in the vicinity. However, that operation would not be addressed for at least another day, so she took some time off and spent it with Worf and Bashir.

At that moment, however, all three of them were on the bridge. Commanders Worf and Dax and Dr. Bashir approached Captain Turner. Bashir said to the Captain "You seem to be waiting in anticipation, Captain."

"You could say that, Doctor." admitted Turner.

"Is everything alright, sir?" asked Dax.

"Not quite." Turner replied quickly. He immediately followed his last phrase with"I mean, it's just that... we are having issues right now with the Klingon Empire, the Cardassian Union, and the Dominion. We are out here, running parallel to the place the three of them are most likely to appear. I just wish that they would hurry up and make their decision of whether or not to attack."

"I admire your desire for confrontation of hostile forces, Captain." Worf complimented Turner. "It is the most noticeable sign of a warrior to my people."

Turner looked up at Worf and gave him a light smile. He told him "Thank you for that, Commander Worf. I am glad to see I have gained favor with you."

"Here, here." commented Dr. Bashir. Jadzia smiled at him.

To the port side of the bridge, the ship's sensor relay officer, Lieutenant Commander Francis Dickerson, noticed something bizarre and said "Captain, I'm getting an odd power fluctuation coming from somewhere in the ship."

Turner sat up in his chair and turned to her, asking "Can you detect the source, Dickerson?"

"No, sir, the internal sensors are unable to find its location." she replied.

"Try realigning them." he ordered her.

"I already have, Captain. I'm still not having any luck finding where it's coming from."

Turner sat in his chair thinking of a way to locate the fluctuation. At the same time, his chief of operations, a Betazoid named Tonja Ritsion, found a solution. She turned to Turner and informed him "Captain, I can make a few modifications to the sensor array. With them, we should be able to find the source of the power oscillation."

"Do it." Turner ordered her.

Ritsion went to work on making the necessary adjustments to complete her task. While she worked, Dr. Bashir made a comment to Worf about how Chief O'Brien would be able to avoid such inconveniences on the station. After she finished, she said to Dickerson "Try it now, Franny."

Dickerson went to work on searching for the source of the power fluctuation. "I've got it, Captain." she reported to Turner after a moment of investigation. "The variation in the ship's systems is coming from the engine room."

"Turner to Satifis." said Turner into the com system.

A male Bolian lieutenant, who was the ship's chief engineer, responded from the engine room with "Satifis here. What is it, Captain?"

"We're detecting a type of discrepency coming from the engine room." replied Turner. "See if you can determine what is causing it."

Satifis inspected all of the stations there and asked the people of duty if they were encountering anything abnormal. But his investigation turned up nothing out of the ordinary. He reported in "There's nothing out of place here, Captain."

"Try inspecting the warp core itself." suggested Turner.

Satifis went to work inspecting the engine core. He went to the reactor and looked all around it. He found that all of the conduits were properly connected to the power cell matrix on the adjoining wall, but there was another large wire in the core's databank that he did not recognize. He followed the wire and it led him to a cabinet in the emergency coolant locker. He went to a panel on the wall and contacted the bridge. He reported in to Turner "Captain, everything appears to be in order, but there's something connecting the engine core's databank to the inside of the emergency coolant cabinet."

Turner sat in his chair, pondering on the next move he should make. Worf advised him "You must proceed with caution, sir. This could present a high risk to the crew."

Dr. Bashir grinned at his Klingon friend and told him "Worf, I'm sure that Captain Turner knows what he is doing."

"Julian's right." Jadzia agreed with the doctor. "We can worry about precautions at a later time. As Curzon used to say, 'haste is of the essence.'"

Finally, Turner ordered Satifis to open the cabinet. Satifis attempted to do so, but he found it was locked. This aroused more suspicion; as the coolant storage locker was supposed to be unlocked at all times. Satifis told Turner that he would work on getting the cabinet open. After another minute, Lieutenant Satifis was becoming more successful in deactivating the lock to the cabinet. He informed the bridge with "I think I'm almost there." Finally, he heard a latch click. He opened the compartment and saw what was causing the power fluctuation. An EMP bomb had been rigged to the engine core. He shouted "Captain, it's an EMP bomb!"

"WHAT?" yelled Turner. This news attracted the attention of everyone on the bridge and in main engineering.

Satifis looked frantically all over the bomb's casing for a control panel, but there was none. Then he resorted to attempting to severe the wire from the bomb. The cord was imbedded into the casing. Soon, the timer of the bomb was in its last five seconds. Satifis could only stare in horror as it went from 00:01 to 00:00. Then the bomb detonated. A massive electronic surge was sent out by the EMP. It was so powerful that Satifis was thrown backwards and through the bulkhead into the next room. Then slowly, the electronic surge started spreading out in a sphere-like pattern in all directions. It neutralized everything electronic that it came in contact with. All over the ship, such items malfunctioned, overloaded, or shut down. Anyone standing within a foot of an overloading conduit was electrocuted.

Soon the energy surge reached the bridge of the vessel. The panel in front of the man sitting next to Lieutenant Ritsion overloaded, throwing him out of his chair. He gave a shout of pain as the electrical energy came in contact with his body. Worf ran over to Ritsion, grabbed her by her shoulders, and pulled her out of her chair quickly. Just a few seconds later, the panel at Ritsion's station overloaded. The explosion caused her and Worf to get knocked off of their feet. On the ground, Ritsion looked at the man who had been seated next to her. He was a Vulcan and he too was lying on the ground. Ritsion saw that parts of skin on his throat had been scorched off. She could not believe that had Worf not pulled her out of her seat, she would have ended up like him.

Dax ran over to Worf and leaned him onto his side. Fortunately, neither he nor Ritsion had been injured. However, all over the room, electronic objects failed and erupted in electrical wakes of energy. Commander Dickerson's panel short-circuited directly in front of her and she was almost literally burned to a crisp. Turner jumped to his feet and shouted "Get the power-grid operating again! We have to-"

Before Turner could finish giving his order, a long piece of the hull on the bridge's ceiling just above him lost one of its supports. It came falling down in a diagonal trajectory and struck Turner full in the face. Several bones in his face were broken instantly. Turner involuntarily spun around and collapsed.

"Captain!" shouted Lieutenant Ritsion. She got up off the ground, ran over to the Captain, kneeled next to him, and turned him over. His wide open eyes were staring into nothingness. Blood was spreading out of his nose and mouth very slowly. Lieutenant Ritsion checked for her commanding officer's pulse, but she could not find it. Dr. Bashir came over to her and ran a scan with his medical tricorder on the Captain. When he was finished running his scan, he gave Ritsion a look that indicated there was no hope for the Captain. But she already knew he was gone, as she could not sense anything from him. She then looked all around the bridge. Everyone else there was either dead or on the ground. Once every system on the ship had been disabled, the _Hanson_ remained almost totally powerless. Then it was simply dead in space. The only system still operating was life-support.

Begin Standard Opening Theme


	2. Fresh New Itinerary

"Security Detail"

Captain Benjamin Sisko sat in his office at Deep Space Nine. He picked up a PADD on the center of his desk and began recording a log entry: "Station Log. Stardate 49460.5. While Commander Worf, Commander Dax, and Dr. Bashir are off joining the border patrol on the USS _Hanson_, I am taking some time to ease my mind off of recent events, such as Admiral Leyton's resignation. Starfleet Command is anticipating some form of hostile action will be taken against us very soon. I just hope that they are wrong."

Captain Sisko put down his PADD and focused his attention on the ever-present baseball on his desk. He picked it up and caressed it in his hands. Then he tapped his combadge and said "Sisko to Quark."

"Quark here." responded the Ferengi from the Promenade. "What is it, Captain?"

"Do you have a vacant holosuite at the moment?" asked the Captain.

"As of right now, Holosuite Two will be empty for the next six hours." Quark told him.

"I'd like to reserve about three hours for a baseball game, maybe less." Sisko requested.

"Certainly, Captain," Quark assured him, "but you do know that I charge by the hour. No half-hours or quarter-hours. Would you like two or three hours?"

"I'll take three, just to be on the safe side." Sisko answered the entrepreneur.

"Very well, Captain. I'll have Rom prep it up for you and Jake." said Quark.

"How'd you know I'd be bringing Jake?" asked Sisko.

"I barely ever see you in the holosuites without him, especially when it comes to baseball." said Quark.

Sisko chucked and said "Alright, I'll be right down there soon."

Captain Sisko then walked out of his office into Ops. He took the baseball with him. He always took that baseball whenever he went to play a game. Sure, the holosuites could create an accurate replica of a baseball, but Sisko felt that they just could not recreate that authentic look possessed by a real one.

Major Kira Nerys was at her post in the center of Ops. She saw the Captain and smiled at him. He smiled back. He approached the feisty Bajoran soldier and addressed her with "Major, I assume you have everything under control?"

"It would appear so, Captain." she replied. "The USS _Saavik _just departed the station. Her crew is on its way to Tellar."

"Thanks for the report." Captain Sisko complimented his First Officer. "I'll be down in Quark's for a while. You have the desk until I get back."

The major nodded, but she noticed a slight look of concern on her commander's face. She asked him "Is everything all right, sir?"

"I'm worried about Dax, Worf, and Bashir." he admitted. "I feel that it was unwise to send them out on a mission so close to the Cardassian Border."

"I'll notify you whenever we receive a communiqué from the _Hanson_." said Kira.

"Thank you, Major." Sisko said. He then walked to the lift and said "Promenade."

The lift took him down a few decks. Once off of the lift, Sisko headed for his quarters to change his clothes. He found Jake there.

"Hey, Jake-O." he greeted his son. "How about a game of baseball?"

"That sounds like a good idea, Dad." Jake agreed. "Ever since Nog left for Starfleet Academy I've had nothing to do."

"Then let's get changed and head for Quark's." said Sisko.

At Quark's, Odo was sitting at the bar next to Morn, who was having his third drink that day. Odo, along with quite a few other people at the bar, were relieved that Morn was not droning on about recent events. He had created quite a habit of talking to people until they were bored stiff.

At any rate, Quark came along and said "I assume you are not here for entertainment, Constable?"

"The only entertainment I ever get in here is seeing your feeble attempts to expand your capitalism to other cultures." Odo replied.

"For your information, it is not as feeble as you think." Quark told him with dignity. "I am presently working a way to expand my business all the way to the Klingon Empire."

"Quite frankly, Quark, I find it very unlikely that your business will even make it off of this station." Odo quipped.

"I have everything I need to accomplish such a thing, Odo." Quark spoke with indifference.

"And just how do you intend to do so?" asked Odo, very amused.

"I'm remembering the 64th Rule of Acquisition: 'Speak softly and wear clothes with sealable pockets!'" Quark responded.

"Is there any Rule of Acquisition about trust?" asked Odo.

"Now that you mention it, yes, there is." Quark explained. "Number 145: 'There is no worse match than trust and exploitation.'"

"Not exactly what I had in mind." said Odo, rolling his eyes… or rather his imitation of a pair of eyes.

Captain Sisko and Jake came walking into the bar. They walked over to the bar and Sisko asked the Ferengi bartender "Quark, is the program ready?"

"Rom!" shouted Quark. Rom quickly showed up at Quark's side and asked him "Yes, brother?"

"Do you have Captain Sisko's holosuite program?" asked Quark.

Rom held up a small thin electrical tube in his hand and said "Got it right here."

"Then set it up!" ordered Quark.

Rom cowered and headed up the stairs to the third floor of Quark's. Captain Sisko and his son followed him.

Back at Ops, Chief O'Brien was looking through one of the crawlspaces for an unknown reason. Major Kira walked over to him and asked "Is there a malfunctioning relay system, Chief?"

"No, Major." came the Chief's response from inside the crawlspace.

"What about a broken conduit?" she guessed.

"Nope." he told her.

"Then what is it?" she asked, very curious.

"Another one of those damned Cardassian voles." he grunted.

"Another one?" Kira was exasperated upon hearing the Chief's discovery. "How many more of those pests are going to crop up?"

"I don't know, but I hope this will be the last one." O'Brien thought aloud. "I don't get how they can be so elusive from our sensors."

"It's no wonder the Cardassians left them behind." Major Kira said to him. "They were more trouble than they are worth."

"Tell me about it." Chief O'Brien pulled himself out of the crawlspace with a dead vole in his hand. "Poor fellow ran right into the power coupling. It must have killed him instantly."

Kira smirked and said "Hopefully today he'll be the only casualty."

O'Brien looked at her face and asked her "What do you mean by 'hopefully?'"

"Captain Sisko brought the _Hanson _to my attention." she clarified. "I just hope that Jadzia, Julian, and Worf will be alright so close to the Cardassian border."

O'Brien smiled and assured her "Major, I've known Worf for more than eight years. He'll take care of himself easily. Jadzia's symbiont has centuries of knowledge on ways to stay alive. Now, Julian, I'm sure he is more than capable of watching over himself. Trust me, they'll be fine."

Back on the bridge of the _Hanson_, Commander Jeremiah Olsen, the ship's executive officer, grabbed onto a relay station for support and hoisted himself up off the ground. While he did, he shouted "Damage report!" There was no response. Once he was on his feet, Olsen repeated "Damage report!"

The operations officer had been killed in the EMP barrage. Another of the ship's crew, a Bajoran named Lieutenant Junior Grade Priow Hobn, got to his feet and went to the operations station. He reported "Commander, the entire security system has been disabled! There are multiple hull breaches on several decks! Forcefields are just barely in place!"

Olsen swore under his breath, and then he tapped his combadge and said "Olsen to main engineering." Again, there was no response. Olsen tapped his combadge again and practically yelled into it "Satifis! Corey! Is anyone there?"

"The com system has failed, sir!" Priow informed his commander. "We can't contact anybody inside or outside the ship!"

Jadzia helped Worf off the ground and Dr. Bashir helped Ritsion to her feet. Suddenly, an alarm started blaring loudly.

"What the hell is that?" shouted Jadzia.

Lieutenant Priow inspected the operations system and announced "A hull breach is imminent on the bridge. We need to get out of this room before we suffer from severe asphyxiation."

Olsen turned to everyone and said "Look around the bridge and see if anyone else is still alive. Then we will get out of here."

Worf, Dax, Bashir, Olsen, Ritsion, and Priow searched around the bridge for survivors. Priow found one Human woman on the ground near the back and helped her to her feet. One of her legs had been impaled by a piece of machinery. Bashir came over to assist Priow and together the two of them carefully but swiftly extracted the long piece of shrapnel from the woman's leg. They managed to do so without inflicting further pain or damage to her leg.

There was also a Tellarite and three other Humans who got up from certain parts of the ship. But everyone else was dead.

"Let's get the hell off this deck." Olsen ordered what was left of the bridge crew. They used the Jefferies tubes to make their way to the next deck. Bashir helped Priow with the wounded person.

"Take it easy." Bashir instructed her as they helped her down a ladder to the next deck.

Finally the group of eleven Starfleet officers made it to deck three. They exited the Jefferies tube and entered an empty room. They took a few moments to catch their breath there.

Jadzia speculated "I guess we're safe."

"Only for the moment." added Worf.

"Commander Worf is correct." said Lurteas, the Tellarite officer. "If the ship was attacked by a bomb placed in the engine room beforehand, that would imply a hostile force in close proximity waiting to strike again. But the major question is who would be waiting for us?"

"Perhaps it was the Klingons." Ritsion proposed.

"Klingons would never attack their rivals in such a dishonorable manner." Worf stated in a somewhat prideful tone. "If they wanted to destroy the _Hanson_, they would have done so in battle."

"Alright, so we can rule out the Klingons." noted Priow. "This could be a Maquis attack."

"No, the Maquis have no colonies that they would want to reclaim on this section of the border." Bashir enlightened them.

"It's safe to rule out the Cardassians, too." Commander Olsen added. "Sure, they are a warlike race, but even they are not ostentatious and stupid enough to attack possible allies."

"And they would need a few allies right about now." Lurteas agreed.

"Well, the only other peoples who could be responsible for this are the Romulans, the Ferengi, the Breen, and the Dominion." said Bashir.

"There's only one way to be sure." said Olsen. "We will have to get to main engineering and salvage whatever we can find of that EMP bomb. Later we can analyze it and attempt to trace the components back to its creators."

"But we do have another problem, sir." said Priow. "I managed to get a look at the environmental controls before we left the bridge. Life-support is rapidly depleting on all decks. I'd say we have about three hours of oxygen available."

"Then we have three hours to get off of the ship." concluded Lurteas.

Olsen sighed and put his hand against his forehead. Lieutenant Ritsion walked up behind him and put her hands on his shoulder in a friendly gesture. She said to him "With Captain Turner dead, I guess that means you're in charge now, Jeremiah."

He turned his head toward her and just looked into her eyes for a moment. Then he nodded and turned to everybody else.

"What are we going to do, sir?" asked Dax.

Olsen stood thinking for a while. After thinking, he announced to his officers "I have a plan, and I will need each and every one of you for it to be successful."

"We are listening, sir." said Worf.

"We have four major objectives right now." Olsen listed the said objectives out: "Contact DS9 or the nearest Federation starship for assistance, get the escape pods activated, seek out members of the crew who are still alive and get them to safety, and attempt to salvage the bomb's remains."

"Commander Worf, I want you to go with Crewman Robertson and Ensign Isaacs to the communications array." Olsen ordered the Klingon officer. "It is imperative that we make contact with an ally."

"That could be the assailant's plan." speculated Bashir. "Perhaps this attack was merely a rouse to lure other starships into this vicinity."

"Well, I'm not willing to risk the lives of my crew for that." Olsen assured the doctor. "Speaking of which, Dr. Bashir, I want you to accompany me and Lieutenant Ritsion in our search for survivors from the EMP blast. Needless to say, some of them may be critically wounded."

"Lieutenant Priow, take Ensign Caldera with you to the escape pods." the Commander ordered his Bajoran crewman. "I need you to somehow reactivate the escape pods. I know it's possible to reactivate them because they have an emergency backup generator on a different power system. After you have accomplished your task, come join my group."

"What about Caldera?" asked Priow, gesturing to the woman he was helping.

"Get her in one of the escape pods and stop the bleeding on her leg. After you've accomplished that, I'm sure she'll be alright on her own for a little while." Olsen expounded. Then he turned to the Trill officer and enjoined her "Commander Dax, I want you to go to main engineering and collect whatever parts of that bomb are removable. Ensigns Lurteas and Coleman will accompany you.

"Does everybody remember what they are assigned to do?" asked Commander Olsen. There were ten heads nodding in reply. "Good. Now, any questions before we proceed?"

"I just have one cautionary statement, sir." Dax answered. "There may be high electrical buildups forming all over the ship. They could erupt at any moment. There is always a chance that they can erupt when we are right next to them. Despite how low the odds of that are, I don't think we can just walk down the corridors as if the problem was nonexistent."

"She's right." agreed Bashir. "We need some way of detecting the electrical irregularities."

"I have a tricorder." announced Isaacs. "I think I can set it to identify strong electrical buildups."

After Isaacs programmed his tricorder, he scanned the walls for any electrical upsurges. He found that there was only one on that deck within a ten meter radius. This did solve their problem of how to find the buildups, but alas, they were limited to one tricorder.

However, this dilemma was solved when they made their way to a storage area and found three more tricorders. Everyone took a phaser along with them as well. After adjusting the tricorders to the same settings as the first one, Olsen announced "Alright, we have about an hour and forty-five minutes until our oxygen runs out. Everybody needs to make the most of that time and get their tasks accomplished. Now let's move out!"

Then the group of eleven broke off into their four groups and went to work on their assigned chores.


	3. Going To Work

Back at the station, Captain Sisko was with Jake in the holosuites. They were sitting in the bleachers, watching a player hit a ball so high that it was immediately deemed as a homerun. Jake cheered for the player energetically, but Captain Sisko gave only mild applause at the player's hit.

Noticing something was wrong, Jake turned to his father and asked "Dad, is something on your mind?"

Sisko looked at his son and smiled without showing his teeth. Then he dropped his grin and said "Well, Jake, I still have several recent events on my mind. Admiral Leyton's plot to declare relentless marshal law, the Changeling infiltration, the Klingon-Cardassian conflict; I could just go on. Now Bashir, Dax, and Worf are out there, and there's no telling what could happen to them."

"You were hoping that the game could provide your mind with a haven from all this mayhem?" Jake assumed.

"That is exactly what I had in mind." Sisko nodded. "Baseball has always been a type of sanctuary to me. But what with all the turmoil going on right now, it's difficult to find comfort from all the tension."

"Dad, just let your mind rest." Jake advised. "You'll feel better if you concentrate on the game. I'm sure that the others will do fine without your leadership for a few hours."

"Let's hope you're right." said Sisko, turning his attention towards the game now.

Back on the _Hanson_, the four groups were working on their assigned tasks. On Deck 2, Worf, Robertson, and Isaacs were just entering the communications array. While Worf went to the main computer, Isaacs scanned the room for any electrical buildups and Robertson went to see if anyone in the room was still alive.

"The entire communications line has been neutralized." Worf reported to the others. "But it appears as though it is still possible to reactivate it."

Isaacs announced "There are no electrical buildups forming in this room. But there is one out in the hallway five meters to the left of the door."

Robertson found somebody who was still alive. She said to the ensign "Isaacs, here's Jimenez. Help me with her."

Isaacs attached his tricorder to his belt and then went over to Robertson. The two of them were able to revive Jimenez. She stirred slowly, and then opened her eyes with a little more haste. Upon seeing the two people kneeling at her sides, she said "Isaacs, Robertson, thank God you're here. What the hell happened?"

"An EMP bomb was planted in the ship." Isaacs explained. "We're dead in space. We're trying to see if we can reactivate the main communications network and contact Deep Space Nine or another starship."

"You don't say?" said Jimenez as Robertson helped her sit up against a counter. As she got a little more settled, she asked "Are the four of us the only ones who survived?"

"No, but the majority of the bridge crew including Captain Turner is dead." said Robertson.

"So who's in command now?" asked Jimenez. "And who else survived?"

"Commander Olsen is in charge." Isaacs enlightened her. "Ritsion managed to survive, along with Lurteas and Coleman. Commander Dax and Doctor Bashir from Deep Space Nine are still alive. Caldera is injured, but Lieutenant Priow is getting her to safety."

"So, at least twelve of us managed to survive?" said Jimenez.

"Correct." said Robertson.

Worf then abruptly said "Crewman Jimenez, I will require your assistance if we are to reactivate the communications system."

"Of course, Commander Worf." said Jimenez. She said to Robertson and Isaacs "Give me a hand up, won't you?"

Isaacs took her left arm and Robertson took her right arm. The two of them hoisted her up off the ground. When she got to her feet, she brushed herself off and took a seat next to Worf at the communications console. After examining the damage, she said "It appears as though the broadcast grid has been shut down tight. But it is still possible to reactivate it. There are some electrical distributions of various magnitudes all throughout the console's mainframe. If I had a few power converters, I believe I could realign enough of the distributions to match the power signature of com system."

"Where can we find some power converters?" asked Worf.

"There is a storage room nine meters to the left outside the door." Jimenez told him. "If one of you would not mind getting a few, I'm still feeling a little disoriented from the shockwave."

"I'll go get them." said Robertson. She went out the door, turned to the left, and hurried down the hall.

A few seconds after she left, Isaacs suddenly remembered what he had reported regarding the electrical buildups forming in the walls. He turned to the door and shouted "No! Robertson, wait! There's an imminent convulsion just down th-"

Before he could finish his warning, there was a type of explosion from down the hall, followed almost immediately by an agonizing scream. The color almost drained from Isaacs' face. He and Worf ran out into the hallway. They saw Robertson down on the ground. They ran over to her and checked for her pulse.

"She's dead." said Worf apologetically.

Isaacs looked down the corridor. The door to the storage closet was just a few meters in front of him. He scanned the corridor with his tricorder again. He found that there was still a large power buildup in the wall. As he and Worf stood up, he said "I'm going to find another way to get to the storage closet. We need those power converters. Do you suppose you could assist Jimenez with her work, Commander?"

"Of course, Ensign." Worf answered him. "But be cautious. The path you take may still be covered with more of these buildups."

"Thank you for the warning, sir." said Isaacs. Then he and Worf separated. Isaacs went down another hallway while Worf returned to the communications array.

On Deck 5, Commander Olsen, Lieutenant Ritsion, and Dr. Bashir were searching for survivors. They had managed to find two survivors so far. They quickly made their way to sickbay and placed their wounded crewmembers on the bio-beds.

Lieutenant Ritsion went to the mainframe and found that the holo-emitters were still online. She announced to Olsen and Bashir "I think it's still possible for me to activate the EMH."

"Good; that will help us treat the survivors more efficiently." Olsen concluded. "Dr. Bashir, you and I will continue searching for more survivors. Tonja, you stay here and get the EMH online."

She nodded and went to work. Bashir and Olsen went to look for other survivors. While they turned over a few bodies in one room, Dr. Bashir said to Olsen "Commander, forgive me if I am intruding on your personal life, but I've noticed how often you and Lieutenant Ritsion refer to each other by your given names."

"She and I were friends at the Academy." Commander Olsen told the doctor as he checked another person's pulse. "I was in my junior year when she was in her freshman year."

"Commander, it's more than that." Bashir noted. "Why did you assign her to our group? She would probably have been more useful in the group in communications or the one in engineering. In fact, she may be more needed in the group that went to the escape pod room."

"I anticipated that some of the survivors would be badly injured." Olsen explained. "I predicted that we would have to bring them to sickbay, but the EMH would be offline. There is no one that I know who could accomplish that better than the lieutenant."

"Commander, I don't believe that claim for a moment. Is there another reason?"

Olsen was starting to get irritated by Bashir's incessant questioning. He stopped what he was doing and turned to Bashir. He asked him straightforwardly "Doctor, how is this relevant to what is going on right now?"

"Sir, I believe that you may be letting your personal feelings for Lieutenant Ritsion interfere with your command decisions." Bashir speculated.

"Doctor, now is not the time to discuss this matter." said Olsen. "We may focus on it all you wish **after** this catastrophe is over."

Bashir just looked at Olsen for a moment, and then he said "Yes, sir."

The two of them resumed searching for survivors, but Olsen could tell that Bashir was not going to drop this subject so quickly.

On Deck 4, Lieutenant Priow was helping Ensign Caldera to the escape pods. He was giving her a helping hand the entire way there. She was in weak physical condition, but Priow aided her as they made their way down various corridors.

"Come on, Caldera, you can make it." Priow said to her in an encouraging manner.

"Priow, just leave me." she insisted. "I'll only slow you down."

"Commander Olsen gave me a direct order to get you to safety." he reminded her. "I intend to carry out his orders."

She weakly smiled at him. Wanting to change the subject, she said "Tell me; do the Prophets believe in luck?"

He snickered and answered her with "The Prophets themselves don't have to believe anything. It's their followers who have to do the believing."

"So, do you believe in luck?" she asked.

"Truthfully, I do." said Priow.

"Well, I'll thank MY God for that." said Caldera.

Soon, they got to the room with the escape pods. Priow set Caldera down on the ground. She sat up against the wall while Priow went to activate the emergency override on the nearest pod. Once the door to the pod was opened, he carried Caldera into the escape pod and put her in a seat. Then he returned to the room and found two other people on the ground. He examined both of them. One of them was still alive. The other was already dead. Priow picked up the one that was still alive by his shoulders and took him into the escape pod that Caldera was sitting in.

It was then that Priow noticed that Caldera was still bleeding. He tore a piece of the uniform from the dead crewman off and wrapped the part of her leg that had been wounded in the clothing piece.

When Caldera's wound was wrapped up, Priow stood up and told her "I'm going to go look for other survivors. If I encounter Commander Olsen along the way, I'll let him know that we've succeeded in reactivating the escape pods."

She nodded and sat in her seat, holding her phaser in her hands. Priow left the room and went to search for more survivors.

On Deck 10, Dax, Coleman, and Lurteas had finally made it to engineering. There they found another member of the crew trying to get the warp core back online. He noticed the three entering and said "Mr. Coleman, I could use your assistance here."

"Of course, Mr. Morton." said Coleman apprehensively. Morton was acting as if nothing had happened. Dax came along and asked Morton "Lieutenant, where was the bomb placed?"

"Right there." Morton answered, pointing at the open cabinet. "We need to salvage at least part of it to determine who manufactured it."

Dax and Lurteas went to the cabinet and kneeled down by it. As they looked for a way to extract it from the cabinet, Lurteas asked "Did anyone else survive?"

"Crewmen Floyd and Riggs managed to survive." replied Morton. "They're upstairs trying to repair the damage done to the warp diagnostic matrix."

After working for a few minutes, Lurteas and Dax finally managed to remove the bomb from the cabinet. They examined its shape and size. Then Lurteas said "Well, whoever put this bomb here, it definitely could not have been the Romulans. They use a much different frequency than this."

"It could have been the Breen." Morton theorized. "They've had some experience with energy-draining weapons."

"No, the Breen would not use a bomb." Dax contradicted him. "They would probably have launched something from one of their ships instead. A bomb is just too out of style for the Breen."

"That leaves the Ferengi and the Dominion." noted Coleman. "I doubt the Ferengi would gain much from this. I mean, manufacturing a bomb of this quality would require significant resources."

"And only subtle people would use bombs." said Dax. "As we all know, the Dominion is far from subtle. They would have simply sent a few ships after us if they wanted to attack us."

"Well, then that rules out all potential attackers." said Lurteas. "That means we're dealing with someone we've never encountered before."

"You're right." said Morton. "But who could have done this? Why? And most importantly, now that the trap has been activated, will the hunters come in for the kill?"

The others just looked around at each other, unsure if a disabled ship was still the worst of their problems.


	4. The Unnoticed Shadow

Back at Deep Space Nine, the baseball game in Holodeck 2 had ended. Captain Sisko was back in uniform and making his way back to Ops. On the way, he encountered Odo.

"How are you today, Constable?" asked Sisko.

"I'm doing quite well, Captain." said Odo. "Thank you for asking."

"Any security threats that should be reported?" inquired Sisko.

"Not really." said Odo. "A minor robbery in the Tholian ambassador's quarters. I apprehended the culprit and he paid his fine. Then there were two vandalisms on the Promenade, both done by children. I let the children off with a warning- and I gave them the privilege of cleaning up their respective defacements. And then, of course, there's Quark."

"Quark up to his usual tricks?" assumed the Captain.

"No doubt about that, sir." was Odo's response. "Sometimes I wonder if he'll ever learn."

"Between you and me, I never wonder that." said Sisko. "I sometimes feel that I **know **he'll never learn."

"Well, as much as I would love to agree with you now, Captain," said Odo, "there's no telling what the future can hold. The Ferengi can be a rather impulsive and unpredictable race."

"I'm sure you can use Nog as a fine example for that." Sisko suggested. "Seeing as how he is the first of his people to enlist in Starfleet, there's no telling what other Ferengi might do."

"An excellent point." Odo agreed.

By then, they had made it to the lift to Ops. They went rode the lift all the way up to the command center and walked into Ops. Chief O'Brien was working on a way to upgrade a few of the station's sensors so that they could cover a radius of almost two light years.

"Any luck so far, Chief?" asked the Captain.

"It's going to be harder than I originally thought, sir." O'Brien answered him. "There's a glut of technical obstacles I have to override in order to get to the sensor grid."

"Knowing you, it will probably be as challenging as deleting an unwanted file." said Sisko.

"Perhaps even easier than that, sir." said O'Brien. "I'll keep you posted."

"Thank you, Chief." said Sisko. As he and Odo walked to the center of the room, Sisko noticed a slight smirk on Odo's face. "Amused, Constable?"

"No, I'm not, Captain." answered the Changeling. "It's just that Chief O'Brien never ceases to amaze me."

"He amazes all of us." claimed Major Kira.

"I can't argue with you there, Major." said Sisko. "I'd bet that he will someday create a warp core that is powered by… I don't know; hydrogen and methane instead of a matter/antimatter combination."

O'Brien, having eavesdropped on the conversation, announced "I'll put that on my 'to do' list of miracles, Captain."

Sisko, Kira, and even Odo chuckled at O'Brien's comment. Sisko then turned to Kira and asked her "Any word from the _Hanson _yet?"

"Still no word, Captain." the Bajoran officer replied. "But they should be reporting in soon enough."

"Let's hope so." said Sisko.

Back on the _Hanson_, the active members of the crew were doing all they could to restore order and the disabled systems at the same time.

On Deck 2, Jimenez and Worf were trying to manually reactivate a few of the systems in the communications array. Isaacs was still out in the corridors fetching the power converters. He had managed to find a safe path around the corridor that had the power buildup in the wall.

"Let's see here." he muttered to himself, studying the information on his tricorder. "Can't go through Section 14-Beta. I'll have to cut through Section 5-Delta."

Isaacs eventually found the storage closet. He went into the room and looked through every container and cabinet in search of some power converters. Finally, he found what he was looking for. He attached his tricorder to his belt, picked out six power converters, and closed the cabinet doors. All of a sudden, he heard a type of banging noise coming from outside the room. He took his phaser out and pointed it at the door. No one came through it. Isaacs went to the door and looked down the corridor. No one was there.

Isaacs then put away his phaser and took the tricorder back out. He slowly approached the part of the corridor that was on the edge of the electrical buildup zone. He called out "Commander Worf!"

The Klingon officer came out of the communications room and called down the corridor "What is it, Ensign?"

"Walk very slowly towards me." Isaacs instructed him. "I'll tell you when you should stop."

Worf complied and walked at a smooth and easy pace towards Isaacs. When he was a little over two meters away from him, Isaacs said "Stop!"

Worf stood still where he was instructed to. Isaacs then told him "I'm going to toss you these power converters. You and Jimenez can use them to reactivate the communications array."

"Is there still a power buildup in the wall?" inquired Worf.

"Yes." said Isaacs. "I'm not going to risk walking down this corridor and having the conduit blow out in my face. I mean, you saw what happened to Robertson."

"I understand, Ensign." Worf opened his hands and put them in the air. Isaacs tossed him all six of the power converters one at a time. Once all six of them were in Worf's possession, Worf said "Good work, Mr. Isaacs. What do you plan to do now?"

"I'm going to take a look around." Isaacs answered him. "There may be somebody else still alive on this deck. You see, I thought I heard something a moment ago."

"Alright." said Worf. "But don't take too long. It would be more prudent if we stay together."

"Yes, sir." Isaacs then headed down the hallway in search of the person he heard, and Worf went back to the communications array. He and Jimenez hooked up the power converters to the terminals and began to transfer the power from the electrical distributions to the power cells of the central communications panel.

"About how long will this take?" asked Worf.

Jimenez shrugged and said "Not long; about ten minutes. But it could be a little longer than that."

The two of them went to work transferring power from the conduits to the terminals.

On Deck 5, Lieutenant Ritsion was still in sickbay, attempting to recover the EMH's program. Fortunately for her, none of the holo-emitters had been damaged in the EMP bombardment. She had to transfer a few redundant systems, but Ritsion finally managed to access the EMH. She activated the program and the ship's Emergency Medical Hologram materialized in the room.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency." stated the holographic physician.

"The entire ship's been hit by an EMP bomb." Ritsion enlightened him.

"And how does this imply a medical emergency?" inquired the EMH.

"We have several injured crewmembers in need of treatment." she answered. "All the members of the medical staff that were on duty are either dead or unconscious at the moment."

"Very well." said the doctor. He started examining the crewmen on the bio-beds and he administered some required medicines for their respective injuries. "Do you know who attacked the ship?"

"Why would you want to know that?" asked Ritsion.

"It's in my programming to attempt to make Smalltalk with people while I work." the physician explained. "So do you know who planted the bomb?"

"Not yet." said Ritsion. "But the bomb was placed in main engineering. We sent a few people down there to recover some parts of it."

"Alright." said the EMH. "I better get to work treating these patients."

A few corridors away, Bashir and Olsen were helping three more survivors get to sickbay. Two of them were unconscious, and the other one was just barely conscious.

While they walked, Bashir turned his head over to Olsen and got his attention by uttering "Commander?"

Olsen looked over at Bashir and replied with "Yes, Doctor?"

"I wish to apologize to you about what I said to you earlier." said Bashir. "I should not have been intruding into your personal life like that."

"Actually, Doctor," said Olsen, "I've been thinking about what you said. Candidly, you were quite right. Lieutenant Ritsion and I do have personal feelings for each other. Right now, I'm letting those feelings interfere with command decisions."

Bashir gave a light smirk at Olsen and told him "Don't worry, sir. We'll still get through this."

They then escorted the three wounded officers to sickbay. When they arrived in sickbay, they found the EMH treating the patients and Lieutenant Ritsion examining the people on the ground. She was hoping to find a few members of the medical staff that were still alive. Just as she found one, Bashir and Olsen came through the doors.

"It appears we've found six survivors total." Bashir noted.

After getting the four people they had just recovered onto the bio-beds, Olsen said to Ritsion "Tonja, there's something I need you to do."

"Go ahead, Commander." she listened closely.

He placed the tricorder in her hand and told her "I need you to get to Deck 4. Lieutenant Priow may need all the help he can get."

"What about you, sir?" said Ritsion, obviously concerned for the Commander.

"Dr. Bashir will stay here and help the EMH treat the survivors." Olsen enlightened her. "I'll continue to look for more of them."

"But without the tricorder-" Ritsion began.

"I won't be able to detect the electrical power surges." Olsen finished for her. "I know. But it is imperative that those escape pods be brought online."

Ritsion was about to say something more when the barely conscious crewman abruptly started faintly muttering something directed at Commander Olsen. The Commander, Ritsion, and Bashir turned to the crewman and approached his bio-bed.

"What is he saying?" asked Ritsion.

"I believe he is trying to tell us something." Bashir speculated. "But he's still in shock. That's making it difficult for him to talk straight."

"This should help him recover." the EMH injected a type of medicine into the crewman's neck. He quickly recovered from his shock. When he was able to talk straight again, he asked Olsen "Commander, what is going on?"

Olsen and the others informed him about the EMP bomb, the evacuation plan, and everything else on their agenda. Once they had finished, the crewman had already regained the strength to sit up. As he sat up, he said "If Lieutenant Priow and the other groups each have one of these upgraded tricorders, then perhaps Lieutenant Ritsion does not have to keep that one the whole time."

"What are you implying, Mr. Vaughan?" inquired Olsen.

"I could go with Lieutenant Ritsion to the next deck." Vaughan suggested. "Once we have found Lieutenant Priow, she can work with him. I can then take the tricorder and bring it back here."

"That is a very proficient idea, Ensign." Bashir complimented him. "But are you sure you are well enough to move between decks?"

"Absolutely." Vaughan moved his legs to one side of the bio-bed and stood up. "I don't know what was in that hypospray you gave me, Doc, but it sure got me back on my feet quickly enough."

"All the same, you should take it easy on yourself, Ensign." the EMH cautioned him.

"I will." Vaughan assured him. He turned to Ritsion and said "Shall we precede, Lieutenant?"

Ritsion and Vaughan left sickbay and headed for Deck 4.

"I can tell that was a difficult decision for you to make, Commander." said Bashir. "But I'm glad to see you were able to set aside your personal feelings."

"Thank you, Doctor." said Olsen. "I'm going to search for more survivors. And don't worry. I know how far we went without running into a buildup."

The Commander then left sickbay to search for more survivors. Dr. Bashir and the EMH resumed treating the wounded crewmembers.

On Deck 4, Priow had found two more members of the crew that were comatose, but still alive. He had moved both of them to the escape pod Caldera was in. After he accomplished that, he tried to get the escape pods online. But he was having no luck; too many systems had been short-circuited.

Suddenly, he heard someone coming. Instinctively, he drew his phaser and waited. When Ritsion and Vaughan came through the door a moment later, Priow put his weapon away. He asked "Did Commander Olsen send you up here?"

"Yes." said Ritsion. "He wants me to assist you in activating the escape pods."

"Alright." said Priow. "I'll need some help bypassing the central command nodes."

Ritsion handed Vaughan her tricorder and went to assist Priow. Vaughan headed for the door and was about to leave when Priow said "Vaughan, where are you going?"

"Commander Olsen just wanted me to accompany Lieutenant Ritsion here." the ensign explained. "You see, this tricorder is the one that belongs to his group. He gave it to her so that she could make it up here safely. I came along so that after she got here, she would be able to use your tricorder. Now I'm going to regroup with Commander Olsen so that we can keep searching for survivors with **this** tricorder."

"Oh, okay." said Priow. "Go right ahead. But tell the Commander to be on his guard. Earlier, I thought I heard someone prowling around in the corridors. I don't know who it was, but we should be careful."

Vaughan drew his phaser and said "I'll be careful and I'll let the Commander know of this 'stalker.'"

Vaughan left the room, leaving Priow and Ritsion to work on activating the escape pods. About a minute later, Ritsion said "I think I can handle it from here. You go look for more survivors."

Priow agreed, as Ritsion was the higher-ranked officer. He took his tricorder and went to survey the deck for other members of the crew.

On Deck 10, Dax and Coleman had managed to remove the bomb from the cabinet. Dax held onto it while the other members of the crew looked for a way to bring the warp core back on line.

Crewmen Floyd and Riggs had come down from the second level to join the others.

"I believe we can make some progress in bringing the warp core online if we divert power from the auxiliary impulse drive to the plasma manifolds." said the former of them.

"As for navigation," said the latter, "we're working on a way to find to pilot the ship manually."

"Unfortunately, this ship is in no condition to go anywhere at the moment." Morton added in.

"I doubt we'd get very far anyway." said Lurteas.

"Maybe we can separate the matter from the antimatter and from there purge all the discrepancies in its molecular formula." suggested Dax.

"The only one who knows how to conduct that procedure is Satifis." Morton enlightened her. "And he's dead."

"Well, we have to do something." Dax emphasized her point.

Without warning, they heard a loud pounding sound outside the room.

"What was that?" said Riggs.

"I don't know." said Floyd.

Coleman, Lurteas, and Dax drew their phasers. The three of them stepped toward the door very slowly. Coleman made a gesture that indicated he would go first. He slowly went through the doorway and pointed his phaser down both directions of the corridor. But there was no one there. In the end, he shrugged, turned back into the room, and said "Looks like it was just a false al-"

Coleman was immediately shot in the back then. He shouted and threw his arms into the air, dropping to the ground. Dax and Lurteas ran out into the corridor and aimed their phasers down the hall. There was no one else there. Hastily, the Trill and the Tellarite officers went back in main engineering and activated the emergency door seal. They stood with their phasers pointed at the door.

Morton ran over to Coleman to investigate the latter's condition. "Coleman's dead." he announced. He picked up Coleman's phaser and told the others "Whoever- or whatever- that was, we can safely assume that that wasn't a warning shot."

"What should we do, Commander?" Lurteas asked Dax.

"You stand guard at the door, Mr. Lurteas." Dax began. "The rest of us will do our best to get the internal sensors back on line. If that… thing comes back, we'll have to know where it will come from."

The others nodded and went to work. Tension was steadily growing in the minds of all the Starfleet officers on that ship. They were beginning to wonder if they would be getting off that ship. And if they did, how would they be getting off? Would they be beamed off the ship standing up, flown off the ship sitting down in the escape pods, or carried off the ship after lying on the ground?


	5. Rising Tensions

Back in the _Hanson_'s communications array on Deck 2, Jimenez and Worf had just finished transferring power from the electrical buildups to the main broadcasting console.

"That should do it." said Jimenez. She left the power converters in place and pressed a few buttons on the panels. She announced "Inter-ship communications are still down, and communications outside the ship are still low, but there is sufficient power to contact anyone and anything within a light-year. I'm going to send out a message on all emergency channels."

"You should keep the message brief and unambiguous." Worf advised her.

"This is the USS _Hanson_ to all vessels within one light-year." Jimenez said into the communicator. "We've been disabled by an EMP bomb and we are adrift in space. We're in need of immediate assistance from any available starship. Please hurry; we only have about an hour's worth of breathable air left."

She waited for the buffer to finish uploading the log, and then she told Worf "The message has been successfully transmitted."

After a few moments of silence, Worf looked at Jimenez and inquired "What are we to do now?"

She shrugged and leaned back in her chair, answering simply with "We wait."

Isaacs came rushing back into the room. He was breathing deeply and keeping his eyes focused on the entrance.

"Ensign, are you alright?" asked Worf.

"I'm fine, Commander." said Isaacs. "But I think we're being watched."

"Watched by whom?" said Worf.

"I don't know." said Isaacs. "But I'm pretty sure I'm not just suffering from anxiety over what has happened to the ship. Somebody is definitely out there."

Jimenez turned back to the panels and began entering a new set of codes. She told the other two "I'm going to try to reestablish inter-ship communications. From there, we can find out if anyone else has seen anything similar to what you described."

Three decks downward, Olsen had just found two more members of the crew. He was about to take one of them to sickbay when he heard a voice call out "Commander Olsen!"

He quickly identified it as Ensign Vaughan's voice.

"In here, Mr. Vaughan!" Olsen responded. A few moments later, Vaughan joined Olsen in that room. In one hand he held the tricorder and in the other he held his phaser.

"Why do you have your phaser drawn, Ensign?" asked Olsen.

"Lieutenant Priow believes that there's someone else on this ship." Vaughan nervously answered Olsen's question. "He doesn't believe it is one of our people, though."

"Why not?" said Olsen

"He described the figure he saw as a type of stalker," Vaughan explained, "and he seemed very sure of himself."

"Then we should be very careful." said Olsen. "Keep your phaser set on heavy stun."

"Yes, sir." Vaughan increased the magnitude of his weapon. After that, he went over to the other crewman Olsen had found in that room and helped her off the floor. They escorted the two injured crewmen to sickbay. The EMH and Dr. Bashir were still treating their other patients. They had managed to revive two of the original five. Both of them were asking questions that the medical staff weren't answering.

When Olsen and Vaughan entered the room, the two of them walked over to them. One of them asked Olsen "Commander, what the hell is going on?"

"I've already answered that question twice." said Olsen as he helped the injured crewman onto a bio-bed. "I don't have time to give you the long version. I'll give you the short version: An EMP bomb went off in Main Engineering. The ship's disabled. Life support is failing. Captain Turner's dead, along with most of the crew. We're planning to leave as soon as we have salvaged part of the bomb, contacted help, and activated the escape pods."

"Is there anything we can do?" asked the other crewman that had just been revived.

"Yes, you can make yourself useful and give us a hand here." Vaughan answered. "We're looking for members of the crew that are still alive."

"Alright, we will." said the first revived crewman. He moved over to Vaughan and helped him get the other wounded crewman onto another bio-bed.

"Oh, and stay alert." said Olsen. "We have reason to believe that there is an intruder on the ship."

One deck above them, Ritsion was having some success on activating the escape pods. She had managed to get one of them online. It was the one that had Caldera and the unconscious crewmen in it. At that moment, there were four unconscious crewmen. Priow came into the room giving another crewman a helping hand. As he placed her in the open escape pod with the others, Ritsion looked up and asked "How many does this make now?"

"Including Caldera, six." said Priow.

"That's good to know." Ritsion commented. Priow came over to her and examined her work. He asked "How's your progress going?"

"I've managed to get one of the escape pods working." she told him. "It's the one with Caldera and the others."

"Alright, good work." said Priow, walking to the exit. "I'm going to keep looking for more survivors. I'll leave you to-"

Without warning, a beam of alien phaser-fire sailed down the corridor towards Priow. It missed his face by two inches. With quick reflexes, he pointed his phaser down the corridor and fired. Then he got back inside the escape pod room and shut the door manually.

Ritsion drew her phaser and went to join Priow at the door. They disabled the manual override so that the door could not be opened.

"What was that?" asked Ritsion.

"It wasn't one of our people." said Priow. "It was an alien I've never seen before."

"What did it look like?" she queried.

"I only got a brief glimpse at it." he replied. "It was a vague glimpse, though. I'm not even sure that thing was humanoid."

The two of them stood in silence for a short time. Ritsion broke the silence when she told Priow "You have to get out of here."

"What?" said Priow.

"Take the active escape pod and get out of this area of space." said Ritsion.

"I can't just leave you here." said Priow. "What if that thing tries to break down the door?"

"It will be better to have some of our people safely off this ship than none of them." Ritsion argued. "And don't forget, I still outrank you."

After a short disagreement, Priow finally agreed to leave in the activated escape pod. He got into the pilot chair and started up the controls. Caldera had regained her focus and was occupying the co-pilot seat.

Just before the hatch closed, Priow turned around and looked at Ritsion. He gave her a look that implied "We'll be back for you."

The hatch was sealed and the engines on the escape pod were engaged. It flew away from the crippled starship at a speed of Warp 1.

Now alone in the escape pod room, Ritsion went to work undistracted. She held her phaser in one hand and used the other to work on activating the other escape pods. Every few moments, she would glance at the door, worrying that someone would break through it.

Six decks beneath her feet, Ensign Lurteas was still standing guard at the entrance into Main Engineering. Everybody else was trying to get the internal sensors back up.

"How much longer until we leave this room?" asked Lurteas.

"It's not much longer, Ensign." Morton replied. "We just need to use the sensors to determine how many intruders are out there."

"Alright." said Lurteas.

Finally, after five minutes, Morton shouted "Success!"

After studying the sensors for a few moments, Dax announced "It doesn't look like there's anybody out there."

"Perhaps the person went off to another deck." said Floyd.

"Well, regardless of the reason, now's as good as any a time to get out of here." said Riggs.

"Okay, I have a plan." said Dax. "Floyd, Riggs, the two of you will each take half of the bomb components we salvaged. Morton, you will watch our backs. Lurteas, you and I will go at the head of the group. I'll use my tricorder along the way."

Everyone took note of their roles and the doors were opened. One by one, the five Starfleet officers moved out of Main Engineering and made their way to the nearest Jefferies tube. As they approached the ladder, Lurteas asked Dax "Which floor should we climb up to, Commander Dax?"

"Well, we should probably let Commander Olsen be the first to know of our discoveries." said Dax. "We'll climb up to Deck 5."

"Alright." Lurteas put his phaser in his belt and started climbing up the ladder. The others followed close behind.

Back at the station, everything was going well in ops. O'Brien was taking some time to show Captain Sisko his latest upgrade on the station's defense systems. His presentation was cut short when a beeping sound penetrated the quietness of the room.

"Captain, we're receiving a faint communications signal." Kira announced.

"Play it through." said Sisko.

"… USS… disabled…. assistance… hour's… air." was made out through the static.

"That's all we decipher, sir." said O'Brien.

"Well, five words are better than none." Sisko concluded. He then started rubbing his chin and thinking about how to interpret the words. He said aloud "Okay, so the first word was 'USS.' Because of how early it was used in the transmission, we can safely assume that it was a Federation starship."

"The second word was 'disabled.'" Odo recalled. "Do you believe that means that they have disabled another ship, or they have **been** disabled?"

"Well, the third word was 'assistance.'" said Kira. "I would say that 'disabled' and 'assistance' put together would imply a distress signal."

"A very astute assessment, Major." said O'Brien. "Now the last two words are what really catch my attention. I mean 'hours' and 'air'… that must imply that life support is failing."

"Actually, Chief, I could have sworn I heard the word 'an' right before 'hours.'" said Kira.

"That's odd." said O'Brien. "Why would someone put a singular article right before a plural noun?"

After taking a moment to think, Odo theorized "Perhaps they didn't mean 'hours' as in 'more than one hour,' Chief. Perhaps they instead meant 'hour's' as in 'one hour's time.'"

"A keen observation, Constable." said Kira.

"Now let's put this all together." said Sisko. "A Federation starship has been disabled, and it is calling for assistance. However, they only have an hour's worth of oxygen left."

"That sounds about right, Captain." Odo concurred.

Something just occurred to Sisko. He turned to Kira and asked her "Major, which Federation starships are in that vicinity?"

Kira took a moment to study a starchart before answered "There were two about forty minutes ago, sir. The USS _Saavik _just passed through the region. But the only other ship is… oh no. Sir, the only ship currently in that region is the USS _Hanson_."

"Oh, my God." Sisko just remained standing where he was for a few seconds. Then he turned to O'Brien and said "Chief, prep the _Defiant _for departure. Odo, you and I will amass the standard _Defiant _crew."

The Irishman and the Changeling nodded and went to work. Sisko walked to the turbolift and said to Kira "Major, you're with me."

The Bajoran soldier walked with the Captain into the turbolift. Sisko said "_Defiant_." The lift went down several decks from ops.

Fifteen minutes later, Sisko was sitting in the Captain's chair on the bridge of the _Defiant_. Odo was standing behind him and Kira and O'Brien were at their usual posts.

"Take us out." Sisko ordered the helmsman.

The ship was slowly maneuvered out of the docks and into space. Sisko said to the helmsman "Plot a course for the _Hanson_'s last known coordinates."

The helmsman went to work and proclaimed "Course set, Captain!"

"Engage at warp 9." said Sisko.

The _Defiant_'s engines came to full power and flew towards the _Hanson_'s previous coordinates.


	6. The Rest In 500 words

Note: I want this story finished as soon as possible. But I can't bring myself to discontinue any of my stories; so I'll just go through it as fast as I can, while explaining everything along the way in a clear fashion.

The _Defiant _makes its way to the _Hanson_'s coordinates. It picks up Priow's escape pod. They arrive at the _Hanson_. 122 survivors out of a crew of 596 are rescued. Just as the survivors are all evacuated, the _Hanson _blows up.

The _Defiant _is about to return to Deep Space Nine when they are abruptly stopped. A ship of a species unknown to the Federation appears out of nowhere. The ship and its' inhabitants are native to an area of subspace that is not visible to any sensors in the Alpha Quadrant. The crewmembers of the enemy vessel claim that the _Hanson _has violated their territory. They had snuck on board somehow when the _Hanson _had neared the region of subspace and planted the EMP bomb. They had hoped to kill the entire crew of the _Hanson_, but they are angered to know that there are survivors.

The alien race demands to have the survivors transferred over so that they may finish surviving what they call "justice." Naturally, Captain Sisko refuses to hear the requests of terrorists, and subsequently the _Defiant _is forced to engage the vessel in combat. Three other ships belonging to that race appear, but within a matter of minutes, two of them and the original ship are destroyed.

The last ship surrenders and withdraws back to the area of subspace, swearing never to bother anyone who enters that region of space ever again.

The _Defiant _returns to Deep Space Nine and everyone is given a thorough medical examination, even the ones who claim that they are completely healthy. Olsen and Sisko hold a memorial service for all the victims of the attack by the xenophobic alien race. Oddly enough, Worf asks to head the service, as he respected Captain Turner and his crew. He also claims that they deserved to die an honorable death fighting instead of being attacked in secrecy by a group of hostile cowards.

The speech Worf gives during the service brings a few tears to almost everyone's eyes, including Dax's.

The survivors of the _Hanson _include Commander Olsen, Lieutenant Ritsion, Lieutenant Priow, Ensign Caldera, Ensign Isaacs, Ensign Lurteas, and many others.

A week later, most of the _Hanson_'s crew is still waiting for reassignment. Commander Olsen asks Lieutenant Ritsion to marry him. She accepts, and Captain Sisko has the honor of carrying out their wedding. Before they leave, Dr. Bashir gives them his best.

(I'm sorry if you were ripped off by this ending. It's just that I have four other stories that are still in-progress, and out of the five of them, this one is the least popular. I may come back to it and finish it someday. Or I may reformat it into another idea for my Star Trek: Champion fanfiction series. Only time will tell its ultimate resolution.)


End file.
